1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telephone directory assistance services which are accessed via the Internet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since the creation of the telephone, users have been able to peruse telephone books and printed directories to locate telephone numbers and information related to other users. For many people, the telephone book remains a valuable source of contact information and the like. Unfortunately, however, as the number of telephone system users has increased in recent years, producers of telephone books and directories have found themselves facing a serious problem related to maintaining accurate and current telephone listings. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that the telecommunications industry, in general, continues to experience many infrastructure changes that often cause whole blocks of telephone numbers including area codes and exchange identifiers to change.
Despite the increased number of users and the changes that continue to occur within the telecommunications industry, telephone system users still have a need for accurate and current telephone system listing information. Accordingly, to address such needs and to attempt to solve the aforementioned problems associated with maintaining accurate and current telephone directories, companies have looked beyond conventional, printed publications like telephone books to offer manned services such as xe2x80x9c411xe2x80x9d Directory Assistance and to develop other services that utilize modern technologies such as the Internet and world wide web (WWW) to distribute telephone listing information.
411 Directory Assistance as it has been implemented in many telephone markets, allows a telephone service customer to dial xe2x80x9c411xe2x80x9d from his telephone handset to speak with a live operator who will manually perform a database search based on information provided by the customer. If a desired telephone number is found, either a live operator will speak the number or a voice response unit (VRU) will sound the number. And, in some cases, the 411 Directory Assistance service will provide outbound call initiation capabilities to couple the customer to his intended called party without requiring the customer to make an additional telephone call. Although 411 Directory Assistance services do allow users to receive listing information and to initiate an outbound call to an intended party, unfortunately, 411 Directory Assistance services are manned, labor-intensive services that can provide only limited information (i.e., a telephone number and a street address) related to a limited domain of telephone numbers. That is, if a customer does not generally know the geographic area in which an intended called party resides or is located, or if the intended called party is outside of a limited database of telephone numbers, no telephone number will be found and provided to the customer.
As noted above, some companies have looked to modern technologies such as the Internet and WWW to distribute more accurate, current, and comprehensive telephone listing information. Online directory services like the SWITCHBOARD(trademark) service located at www.switchboard.com usually allow a network user to visit a WWW site, fill-in a directory query form, and have the online service automatically perform a database query. The online service will transmit all located listings to the user for display by his computer and web browser. Although, online listing services, like the SWITCHBOARD(trademark) service allow an unlimited number of database queries and although online services often maintain very accurate, current, and comprehensive directories, unfortunately, there is no way to request that a call be initiated and completed to a particular intended called party based on the results of any particular online query. That is, a network user may be able to obtain telephone directory information online, but must then manually initiate corresponding call(s) to parties about whom information was located automatically. Such problems are exacerbated when a network user uses a single telephone line to access the Internet and the online directory service and to make and receive voice calls.
Thus, there exists a need to provide a system wherein a network user can receive accurate, current, and comprehensive telephone listing information and can request outbound telephone call initiation services via the Internet. Such a system must allow a network user to receive directory information and to request the initiation of a corresponding outbound call over a single telephone line.
In view of the foregoing comments related to the related art, it is the principal object of the present invention to solved the aforementioned problems.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system wherein directory assistance information and corresponding outbound call initiation services may be requested and received via the Internet.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an Internet-based directory assistance service that interacts with conventional telecommunications systems to cause outbound calls to be initiated.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide Internet-based directory assistance and telecommunications system call initiation services to users who may have only a single telephone line for both voice and data communications.
By achieving the aforementioned objects, the present invention provides certain benefits not heretofore realized. Generally, the present invention combines the capabilities of the Internet to distribute accurate, current, and comprehensive directory assistance information with the capabilities of telephony systems to provide automatic call initiation and completion services within a telecommunications system. For example, Internet service providers will benefit from the present invention by linking their systems to conventional telephony systems to provide enhanced call initiation and completion services. Additionally, conventional telecommunications providers will benefit from the present invention by providing call completion services to Internet service providers for which they may realize revenue streams. And, users, including those who have only a single telephone line, will benefit from the present invention by being able to access accurate, current, and comprehensive online telephone directories and by being able to automatically initiate corresponding, conventional telephone calls via the Internet.
The present invention achieves the aforementioned objects to realized the above-listed benefits by providing a system and method for retrieving directory assistance information and for requesting outbound call initiation services via the Internet. The system and method include and involve a data storage device and a processor that is coupled to the data storage device. The processor is operative to access an Internet site to request a directory assistance service based on a specified called party identifier, to receive a called party telephone number from the directory assistance service, to store the called party telephone number in the data storage device, and to access the Internet site to request the Internet site to initiate a call completion service to be performed within a telecommunications system based on the called party number.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a system and method for servicing a request for directory assistance information and for initiating a corresponding call within a telecommunications system are provided The system and method include and involve a data storage sub-system for storing the directory assistance information including a telephone number associated with a particular called party. Also included and involved is a processor that is coupled to the data storage sub-system and which is operative to receive the request for directory assistance information from a calling party via the Internet. The request includes an indicator of the called party. The processor is also operative to determine the telephone number based on the indicator related to the called party, and to receive a request from the calling party to initiate the call from the calling party to the called party within the telecommunications system based on the telephone number.
According to a final aspect of the present invention, an online directory assistance service system is provided that includes a directory assistance database facility that is accessible and searchable by a network user via the Internet, and a telephone call initiation service facility that is coupled to the directory assistance database facility and which is configured to transmit a call initiation instruction to a telephone call service facility that is configured to initiate outbound calls within a telecommunications system.